Big Brother Myth Becoming Too Real

RAY RECCHI

July 18, 1991|By RAY RECCHI, Lifestyle Columnist

Alot of people breathed a sigh of relief when 1984 came and went with no sign of George Orwell`s Big Brother.

For some of us, the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-controlling character from Orwell`s novel 1984 had been the source of many a nightmare. Worse, the image of a world in which everyone was programmed to think and behave exactly the same became more frightening with each passing year.

For me, fortunately, that fear was tempered by patriotism. In my youth, I figured that as long as the good old U.S. of A. was around and packing the biggest gun in town, the world was safe from Big Brother. As I grew older, I took solace in the belief that Big Brother could not exist without the cooperation of millions. And such cooperation was unlikely, particularly in the United States, where individual freedom always has been sacred.

Less than a decade after 1984, however, I`m beginning to worry again because it seems we celebrated too soon.

As it turns out, Big Brother wasn`t a myth after all. He just got held up in traffic.

There he is now, getting out of the black stretch limo, wearing a gray suit.

Of course, you may not be able to see him yet. It takes a trained eye to spot him, because until he has enough support to take full control, he uses many disguises.

AN IMPOSTOR ON THE BENCH

Sometimes he wears judicial robes, so he can sit in a courtroom and rule against the individual freedom of women and other minorities. As a judge, he also has made it easier for the police to harass innocent citizens, subjecting us to searches and seizures that no real American would have stood for only a few years ago.

But because so many Americans are more afraid of drugs, crime and ``quotas`` than they are of losing their freedom, they have welcomed Big Brother the judge.

Other times, he wears the dark suit and smarmy smile of a politician. In that guise, he introduces laws that tell us what material is fit for adults to view, read or hear, and laws that tell doctors what options they may or may not present to their patients.

Sometimes he dons a clerical collar, transforming pulpits into platforms from which he can spout his dogma of conformity. That works very well because people are always easier to control if they think they are being repressed by God rather than man.

But Big Brother`s best and most promising disguise so far has been the natty blue suit of the American businessman.

Although he`s just getting started in that area, he has made great progress, perhaps because corporate America already is such a hotbed of conformity.

DO THE RIGHT THING -- OR ELSE

If you want to succeed, you have to wear the right uniform, get the right haircut, contribute to the right charities and join the right clubs. But Big Brother is taking conformity out of executive offices and giving it mass appeal. If the trend continues, it won`t be long until conformity will be required for everyone.

Some companies already refuse to hire people who smoke, drink alcohol or have love handles. Some of those will fire employees who are caught smoking or drinking, even if they do so at home on a weekend. Others deduct more from the paychecks of fat people. After all, smokers, drinkers and overweight people are statistically more likely to make a claim on their medical insurance.

Can forced exercise periods and spot checks on our refrigerators and pantries be far off? And once we accept all that, won`t they come up with some ``legitimate`` reason to judge our moral health?

Then it will be time for for Big Brother to move on to the next item on his agenda: genetic testing. In the not-too-distant but too-close-for-comfort future, an employer might be able to test your blood and fire or refuse to hire you based on a predisposition to one thing or another. If your father was an alcoholic, diabetic or criminally inclined, you may not be employable.

If you think that scenario is outrageous and unbelievable, go ahead and laugh. Call me crazy. Say I`m paranoid.